What's it like to be a conservative student at CU Boulder?

16 percent of students are Republicans on the Boulder campus

By Sarah Kuta

Staff Writer

Posted:
10/29/2016 11:16:05 AM MDT

Updated:
10/30/2016 10:20:08 PM MDT

University of Colorado freshman Ben Hoban, right, waits to sign an email list with the College Republicans at a table outside of the University Memorial Center on the CU campus in Boulder on Friday. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

One day last month, University of Colorado sophomore Justine Sanders was sitting on campus when someone asked if she wanted to get involved with Democratic campaign efforts.

In response, Sanders, a Republican majoring in political science, tweeted a photo of her laptop, which is covered in stickers that show her support of the Grand Old Party. One says "I only date Republicans." Another bears a picture of House Speaker Paul Ryan and the words "Hey girl. Let's get fiscal."

"They came up to me again and asked me if I wanted to work for the democrats... Bruh. No." she tweeted along with the photo.

There's no question that Sanders, who serves as vice president of CU's College Republicans, is in the political minority at CU's Boulder campus. According to a 2014 survey, just 16.3 percent of students there are Republicans. Twenty percent of Boulder students described their political philosophy as conservative.

Those numbers are high when compared to the political leanings of faculty and staff. Roughly 6 percent of faculty and 10.5 percent of staff are Republican, according to the survey.

So, what's it like to be a conservative student on the left-leaning Boulder campus during a contentious election?

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"All the posters, all the writing on the sidewalk you see walking around campus — honestly, it makes me laugh. It's funny," said Shane Mathis, a conservative sophomore from Erie. "Even though my university is very liberal, I know that some of the country is not that way. There's not much of a point to getting all up in arms when I know I'm going to be outnumbered and outgunned... It's definitely opened my eyes on things I used to say that I don't say as much anymore because I don't want to make people upset."

Though he's not 100 percent supportive of Republican nominee Donald Trump, Mathis plans to vote for him. He knows that saying that publicly probably won't win him any points from most CU students.

Though they feel the campus is generally very accepting of their conservative beliefs, Mathis and other conservative students said Trump's presence in this year's election has heightened the level of animosity toward their party.

"Obviously, Trump's not a popular guy — not even all conservatives like him — so we're being tossed in the same basket with him and that's just the reality," said senior Chris Kohl, who plans to vote for Trump and is president of CU's College Republicans.

Case in point: Members of the College Republicans spent one Sunday evening earlier this month chalking conservative messages, including one supportive of Trump, on the sidewalks around campus. Later, the chalk had been washed away.

Republican CU Regent Sue Sharkey, who heard about the chalk incident, called it "awful." Sharkey, who represents Colorado's conservative 4th Congressional District, said she believes the ugliness of this year's presidential race is infiltrating the campus, just as it's infiltrating families and other communities.

"It may not seem like a big deal to some, but it should be of concern ... the washing away of ideas," she said. "It's depressing the freedom of ideas, which is something I champion. Not just my ideas, I want all ideas heard. I want students to know how to debate in a respectful way, but understand how to debate, not to shout down someone because they don't agree with them."

Liberal privilege

Sharkey, who has been one of the leading advocates for increasing the diversity of political thought at CU's campuses in her role on the CU Board of Regents, said her biggest concern is that conservative students don't feel comfortable expressing themselves.

"People feel that they have to suppress their opinions and their viewpoints," she said. "Even if most of the people in the room disagree with them, they should at least still be respected, instead of being criticized or made fun of or belittled or diminished. I don't believe it's widespread, but I do believe that it exists."

When she first moved to Boulder from a ranch in eastern Colorado four years ago, CU senior Marilyn Alexander remembers feeling isolated and alone in her political views. She kept quiet.

Now, though, she's more outspoken and happy to share her beliefs with others. Alexander said that changed when she began meeting other conservatives on campus.

In the end, she believes being in the political minority has made her a more confident person.

"Through that, I really learned that I am strong, I am intelligent and I can speak my opinions and I can do it in a way that isn't putting anyone else down," she said. "That's what I truly believe college should be, an open space for everyone's opinions and dialogue."

When she identifies publicly as a Republican, Alexander said other conservative students tend to come out of the woodwork.

"What a terrible way to go about life saying, 'I believe in this and I believe in this,' but I don't want to say something because I'm going to be shot down and I'm going to be attacked by the louder voice," she said.

Kohl, the College Republicans president, invoked that phrase this week, saying that he wished CU students were more aware of what it feels like to be in the political minority.

Though students tend to assume they're speaking to other liberals, Kohl said he believes there are more conservatives on campus then people realize — they're just not as vocal about their beliefs.

"(Liberal students) can go to class and be reassured in their political views and have friends and not have to worry about being shouted down in class or anything like that," he said. "Those are things that conservatives have to worry about."

Political neutrality

In CU's political science department, professors are uniquely focused on political diversity in their classes, said department chair David Brown.

"We strive to teach them in a way where, at the end of the day, students really have no idea where we stand politically," Brown said. "As political science has evolved as a discipline, what you see is most everyone is in agreement with that. Gone are the days of wearing your politics on your sleeve and bludgeoning your students into thinking one way or the other."

Conservative students say that's less true in some other fields that study inherently polarizing topics, such as climate change.

Though political science professors are almost hyper-aware of being politically neutral, the students in their classes are another story, said Brown.

If students are told at the beginning of the semester that they need to listen to all viewpoints, they're generally respectful of those rules, Brown said. Sometimes, though, they exhibit subtle forms of intolerance that professors must address.

"The tougher situation is actually one in which there are guffaws or eye-rolls or sighs when someone puts out a view that is not shared by the majority of students," he said. "You have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Though the department, in general, tries to stay away from overtly political events, the conservative scholar provides a space for those types of discussions, Brown said.

"We err on the side of caution here," Brown said. "We really could probably do a lot more things that are sort of confrontational or in your face in terms of politics, but we tend to shy away from that. We certainly don't want to be discriminatory. The conservative chair provides an avenue or a forum in which that can actually happen — no one is going to accuse the conservative chair of being too conservative."

The College Republicans hope to be more visible this year, too. Sanders, the College Republicans vice president, said roughly 200 students are on the group's email list this semester.

No matter who wins the presidential race, part of the group's focus will be on showing students that there are moderate Republicans who have liberal social views, she said.

"They see Donald Trump say, 'Build the wall,' and they get afraid or they call Republicans racist, but we have a huge party and a diverse party," Sanders said.

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